The Domino Effect
by JourneyFawkes
Summary: Sheldon does not believe in love, so Penny purposes an experiment to see if the genius is right about this too. who could have anticipated these results


Another day, another laundry night…alone.

After her break-up with Leonard, Penny had just not been able to find another boyfriend; it seemed like her whole outlook on men had changed! Once, while at her favorite bar, a gorgeous man had been flirting with her shamelessly, however, she had found the quite male in the corner table reading an impressively large book more attractive.

"Sheldon."

The man beside her who usually did his laundry, well, always did his laundry on this night, finished folding his shirt then looked in her direction.

"Yes Penny?" he said then began his folding once more.

"What do you think about 'love'?"

The genius halted mid fold, stared straight ahead and seemed to repeat the question in his mind, then turned his attention towards her, "Love is a chemical reaction in the human body that our homo sapien hormones make humans participate in. It then follows lust, which is driven by testosterone and estrogen. Then adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and vasopressin do the rest. It is an exercise of instincts to keep the human race thriving. I for one am above it this because the human species is safe."

"Sheldon, are you saying you don't do love?" Penny asked stumped.

"Hmm yes, as you so colorfully put it." Sheldon replied as he continued to organize his laundry.

Penny's mouth hung open as she returned to her own clothes. She had heard similar jokes from the other guys, but she never really considered Sheldon having the same opinions of himself. Suddenly the women really considered the physicist's up bringing. As a child of fourteen, Sheldon Cooper had graduated collage rather then attend high school, the boy had probably never had class with children his own age. How could she expect his understanding of social behavior to be the same or develop properly? At least the man had grown accustom to adjusting to the people around him today.

This last thought suddenly gave Penny an idea.

"I purpose an experiment." She smiled triumphantly and turned towards the man in question.

Sheldon paused for a moment but did not stop putting his laundry in neat, separate piles within his basket, "Proceed."

"Well, from my understanding you, Sheldon Cooper, are human-phobic." She held a hand up to stop the man's correction of her terminology, "I would like to run a series of experiments and monitor the change it causes. See if 'love' is really scientific or is it something a person crosses." Penny's smile had transformed into a challenging smirk by the end of her speech, one she knew would annoy him.

"Fascinating, for you, and how do you purpose to execute this experiment?" Sheldon had stopped his own sorting and turned his own attention to the women in front of him.

"With you! All we need is one kiss every laundry day." Penny moved closer, causing the genius 's eyes to widen but hold his ground, "One kiss, I'll make sure to brush my teeth, after I will record each reaction and any changes in behavior through the weeks." Sheldon's eyes never left hers, looking for any faults in her plan and the calculations displayed across his eyes.

"I see no reason to deny your offer, however, I will want to be informed if you work with or in proximity to anyone in less then perfect health and it will have to wait until my duties here are completed."

Penny moved closer until their shoes touched, Sheldon looked down at her and seemed to be resisting the urge to move and twitch, "You have to close your eyes, that way your senses concentrate on the right sensations and it must last more the 5 Mississippi's'."

Sheldon closed his eyes after another moment of clear calculation and Penny leaned onto her tiptoes. As their lips met Penny felt Sheldon stiffen so she froze, knowing how uncomfortable the man probably was. Penny felt herself smile as they parted and Sheldon gave her an awkward nod before he collected his things and walked out, she was left wondering how much she could change his one individual.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

The weeks had been very eventful for Penny. Apart from the weekly kiss, Penny had exposed her test subject to small touches and brushes when she was hanging out with the boys and slowly had moved from her spot until she was only an inch away from Sheldon on the couch. As suspected, Sheldon had slowly adjusted, almost as if unconsciously, and began to relax in her presence. This helped her experiment tremendously, during their weekly kiss Sheldon had slowly began to relax during a kiss; stiffing less and less until he finally would only hold still and even lean down into Penny's reach. The week had even become an advantage in its own right, giving Sheldon a chance to ponder the result of the kiss and secretly allow anticipation to set in. She had seen this in Sheldon's hand movements, glances, and muscle spasms as the laundry chores came towards a close.

For what had started as a game to Penny had now become a true experiment, she had even kept a constant account of the weekly meeting in a notebook; detailing his reactions and behavior the following weekdays. Today Penny had decided to run her first test.

The two people stood in the laundry room folding their clothes silently. Penny had brought her notebook and, as the clothes diminished, began to hum a tune, knowing it would attract Sheldon's attention.

Soon the physicist turned his eyes towards her and noticed the booklet on the table, "Oh, how are your findings going? Has your hypothesis found a direct path?"

"Now Sheldon, if I tell you my findings it would contaminate the test subject." Penny grinned, hoping she had said that right, "If you remain unaware the experiment will flow much more naturally!"

Sheldon grumbled something about not being able to use flow in that context as Penny gathered her basket and headed for the door.

"Penny?"

Penny halted and suppressed the smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"…Are you not going to test your experiment?" Sheldon asked, shifting on his feet and looking puzzled at why he had even spoken.

Penny whirled back around on her toes and sat her basket on a cleaner, "Ah yes, must not forget shall we."

She approached him as he stood stock still, only moving his eyes as he sill faced the table. Penny slowly reached he fingers out, as if to not scare a deer, and waited for him to put the pieces together. She watched as her fingers gently touched Sheldon's and caused that familiar glow of calculations to flash through his eyes, decoding her actions. Slowly, Sheldon turned to face her and allowed Penny's fingers to lightly lie between his own. He looked down at her calmly as she stretched to reach his lips. This time, Penny did not just connect their lips, but pushed against his. Sheldon to immediately stiffen at the new sensation, but quickly relaxed and leaned down slightly to add his own pressure before he moved away.

Penny smiled slightly as a blush colored both of their cheeks, test one a success.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

As the months passed Sheldon progressively grew so accustom to Penny's presence that he never twitched or stiffened when Penny touched him. The woman delighted in how much she had drawn Sheldon from his self made defense. Whenever she visited the boys' apartment, almost every night now, it was expected for Penny to sit near the genius and no one batted an eye if she bumped or touched Sheldon playfully. Gradually, Sheldon had developed what many gained during their childhood; however, Penny wondered if it was only shown around her.

Today Penny had perched on the folding table, swinging her legs above the floor, as she waited for Sheldon to finish his folding. She chatted happily about her day and asked the man about his current work on string theory. While she did not understand the majority of it, she did enjoy his explanations and contribute to the conversation.

Penny's notes on this "Experiment" had begun to become more of a diary to her and the two had only missed one weekend. She had gotten sick and the rules stated she could not "infect" Sheldon for her experiment. It had worked in her favor, however, as the next week Sheldon had taken the first initiative and kissed her, a break through!

Penny remained sitting as the man finally sorted his last shirt in the basket and turned to meet her gaze, she smiled to relay her laziness. Sheldon huffed and moved slowly between her legs as if it was a bother; however, Penny caught sight of the quirk in his lips before he could stifle it quick enough. He placed his hands on either side of her as he leaned in to kiss her, the notebook nestled on her lap. He had become quite a good kisser Penny thought as she responded to his lips, letting her fingers slip under his resting on the table.

She wondered how long Sheldon would call this an experiment, and how long she had not thought of it as such.


End file.
